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A new survey reveals that American Express, Wells Fargo, Juniper Bank, U.S. Bank, and Discover top the rankings in providing the best overall customer experience as a card provider. However, credit card providers overall ranked fourth among the nine industries surveyed. The report by Forrester Research found that American Express, Juniper Bank, U.S. Bank and Discover received “excellent” ratings in usefulness. American Express and Discover also received “excellent” ratings for ease of use. When it comes to enjoyability, Forrester says none of the credit card providers distinguished themselves, but American Express, Wells Fargo and Juniper Bank were way above the rest. Five firms ended up with “very poor” ratings in enjoyability including: Bank of America, HSBC, Capital One, Chase, and Citibank. J.D. Power recently released a survey that ranked American Express as #1 among the top ten U.S. issuers. A recent Consumer Reports survey ranked American Express as #6.

Banco Nacional Ultramarino and Plant Payment have signed collaborative agreements for processing solutions. These joint processing solutions include Planet PaymentÃÂ¢ÃÂs “Pay in Your Currency” service and an integrated payment functionality service, both of which are appealing to the international gaming and entertainment businesses. These solutions allow gaming merchants to integrate credit card payment functionality with business management systems increasing operational efficiency. “Pay in Your Currency” allows credit card users to decide on the currency of their choice at the time of purchase, providing peace of mind without speculation over how much the goods and services truly cost them. Macao attracts over 22 million visitors per year with its gaming facilities and attractions. Planet Payment is a multi-currency payment and data processor that reconciles card transactions in multiple currencies of choice while BNU operates 14 branches throughout Macau.

Another survey reveals declining consumer confidence as other data points to an impending recession. The latest “Discover U.S. Spending Monitor” fell 3.4 points in November, the lowest level in more than six months. However, 51% of consumers said they expect to spend more money in December on gas, groceries, mortgage costs and holiday shopping. This compares to 35% who said they would spend more in November and an average of 33% making similar claims about month-to-month spending for the previous five months. Discover noted that consumers had different opinions about their spending pre- and post-Thanksgiving. In the weeks leading up to the biggest shopping weekend of the year, as many as 55% of consumers said they would spend less this year than last, while 43% said they would spend the same or more. Since Monitor surveying began in May of this year, the number of consumers rating the economy as good or excellent fell to 28%, a decline of nearly five points from last month.

AirPlus International has signed partnership agreements with Korea Exchange Bank(KEB) to provide its Korean corporate customers with the “AirPlus Corporate Card”. This card provides customers with integrated travel payment, a payment analysis and cost analysis for travel. This analysis of travel expenses provides customers access to the “AirPlus Information Manager” management information system for recognition of cost cutting opportunities, thus a basis for negotiations with airlines, hotels and car rental companies. AirPlus International has over 32,000 corporate customers offering travel with nearly 260 airlines while KEB credit cards leads the industry in Korea.

After dragging out a number of consumer credit card sob stories before a congressional panel investigating the “universal default” practice, credit card executives stood their ground yesterday. A Discover executive said that a ban on universal default is like “taking the batteries out of a smoke detector.” Card executives and banking industry representatives insist they need to adjust pricing to cardholder risk and funding costs. The industry predicted that a prohibition on risk-based pricing is likely to limit credit availability and raise overall card pricing. The Senate subcommittee, headed by Democratic Senator Carl Levin, also sharply criticized the president of BofA’s card services for raising rates when credit scores change. However, the BofA executive questioned the new policies by Citi and Chase to stop universal default.

American Express Business Travel’s “Barometer” China Business Travel Survey results, conducted by Research International, have been released. The research, conducted over the summer of 2007 with 230 Chinese companies, shows that 53% are expecting an increase in business travel expenses for 2008 because of a the recent boom in Chinese commerce. Additional “Barometer” findings show that 46% of companies increased Travel and expenses (T&E) budgets, 69% of expenditure takes place in Mainland China, T&E is the second largest controllable cost and employees whom travel is up from 28% in 2006 to 33% in 2007. Furthermore, 81% of the companies surveyed indicated that they have a T&E policy, 86% measure the efficiency of their T&E, 93% have rules for air travel and nearly 50% utilize travel agencies. American Express Business Travel provides travel services over a network of more than 2,200 service locations in over 140 countries and had sales of over US$21.8 billion 2006.

Online sales data show that Tuesday and Wednesday are bigger shopping days on the Internet than Monday. The latest Chase Paymentech “Pulse Index,” which tracks e-merchants, found that overall online sales are running 30% above last year levels. On “Cyber Monday,” November 26th, sales volume for the 10 retail Web sites tracked by the “Index” hit $104.8 million. But, online sales volume rose to $134 million on Wednesday November 28th, an all-time high in the three-year history of the “Index.” However, sales fell to $113.4 million on Thursday, November 29th and declined until Monday, December 3rd. Chase Paymentech says the biggest online sales day will likely come December 18th-20th. The “Index” tracks an average of one million payment transactions each day. The “Index” also provides comparative data from 2006 and 2005 to provide a perspective on how consumer shopping habits are evolving from year to year. The 2006 holiday season saw a “Pulse Index” total of $3.262 billion in net sales tracked, with a single-day high of $118.8 million set on December 15th, 2006.

American Express “Gift Cards” are set to take-off next week when participating Bank of America retail banking centers begin offering the cards. American Express “Gift Cards” in $25, $50, and $100 denominations will be available via BofA by December 10th. AmEx gift cards are currently available at more than 65,000 locations nationwide. AmEx is the nation’s largest issuer of open gift cards, and sold more gift cards last year than in all prior years combined since the introduction of its gift card product in 2002. In June, General Growth Properties became the first shopping center developer and management company to offer a line of themed “American Express Gift Cards” for special occasions. In October, AmEx launched a new line of customizable gift cards. (CF Library 6/15/07; 10/21/07)

FL-based decoupled ACH debit card provider National Payment Card and GE Money Partnership Marketing Group have established a relationship that links National Payment Card’s ACH-based alternate payment system with the GE Motor Club. Participating merchants benefit from increased enrollment in the National Payment Card system resulting in lower credit card processing fees and greater consumer loyalty with the combination of these two programs. National Payment Card uses the lower-cost Automated Clearing House Network to process payments, charging a flat-rate fee per transaction, resulting in reduced processing fees. Consumers who enroll in the National Payment Card driver’s license program, a related affinity or loyalty program will receive an immediate price discount at the pump on every gallon of gas. Consumers will also have the opportunity to enroll in a free 90-day trial of the GE Motor Club with benefits that include free towing, free lockout service, fuel delivery, flat tire and jump start services.

CO-OP Financial Services has established a new “Fraud Service Center” with 20 analysts to research and service only CO-OP client cases. The new Center was created to specifically focus on CO-OP credit unions that use “Falcon Fraud Manager”, a neural network technology that examines signature and PIN debit transactions. The neural network uses complex mathematical models and predictive software to analyze member payment data. CO-OP’s analysts are specially trained to continuously monitor this data, identify potential trends and take corrective action to reduce fraud-related losses.

Paymate has announced that it will be embarking on the potential of the North American mobile phone market with its mobile remittance solution. With this, the company will be providing the primarily unbanked American population, nearly 13% of the total population, with the ability to transfer and receive payments through their mobile phone network. This expansion will be under the guidance of Paymate’s newly appointed Vice President of Americas, Mr. Dhruv Singh, who will lead the growth initiatives. Remittance across national borders is expected to reach $300B this year around the world, with residents of North America initiating the largest volume. Meanwhile India, Mexico, and the Philippines are the Top 3 destination countries for these remittances. PayMate is accepted by over 3000 merchants in India for various payment methods and has been awarded “Asia’s Top 100 start-ups” two years in a row by Red Herring.